The shire fee was the southern part; under a sheriff appointed by the chief Lord: the chief landowners owed suit and service -- _i. e._, they attended and were under the jurisdiction of the shire court held monthly in the castle enclosure, and each owed a fixed amount of military service -- especially the duty of "castle-guard" -- supplying the garrison and keeping the castle in repair.

The royal castles were scarcely less troublesome: for, as everything was then in tenure, the governor held his place by the tenure of castle-guard; and thus, instead of a simple officer, subject to his pleasure, the king had to deal with a feudal tenant, secure against him by law, if he performed his services, and by force, if he was unwilling to perform them.

Don Juan informed him that he and Valasquez had seen through a chasm in the rock that concealed them, some of the castle-guard prowling the mountains, as if they suspected a hidden enemy. — “They were within a few paces,” said Valasquez, “of the cavern; and we heard them plainly say, they supposed, by the delay of the governor’s coming to the castle, he had had hot work on his hands.